Hometeam Football Flashback: When teams are playing it safe(ty)

However, what happens when safety is the first — and only — score of a football game?

While a 2-0 final score is a bit of a rarity, it is certainly not as uncommon as one may think by virtue of the nearly 30 local games that ended with that unique score.

Then again, while a 2-0 score may be a bit unusual, even rarer was the 4-0 final score of a game between Gardner and Clinton played 80 years ago this month on Fuller Field.

It was an unseasonably warm afternoon on Oct. 8, 1932, which seems a bit odd for such a final score. Past games yielding only a safety as its final score were usually played in driving rain or on a muddy quagmire.

Several days of rain from the previous week prevented the highly favored Gardner team from practicing, which helped to explain their lackluster performance.

After a scoreless first quarter, Joe Burns tackled the Clinton fullback behind his goal line after a bad snap for a 2-0 Wildcat lead.

That advantage doubled in the fourth quarter as George Wengris batted down an ill-conceived Clinton pass and captain Carl Nelson fell on it for the second safety.

To date, that is the lone 4-0 high school football game recorded on the local scene.

A special thank you goes out to Telegram & Gazette columnist and resident high school football historian Bill Ballou who provided many of these scores from his own personal research.

Interestingly, the last 2-0 final score in a Central Mass. football game occurred 20 years ago this past week when Oxford took the measure of David Prouty by a single safety on Oct. 17, 1992.

In that game, the Pirates fumbled away three scoring opportunities inside the Panthers' 10-yard line but made the most of one of the miscues, turning it into the only points of the game.

The Oxford safety came when the David Prouty center snapped the ball over the punter's head and out of the end zone. It came in the second quarter, just four plays after the Pirates had fumbled the ball away for the third time. The Panthers recovered on their 6-yard line but were forced to punt after three plays netted just 4 yards.

“What a weird game,” said Oxford coach John Doldoorian Jr. to a Telegram & Gazette reporter. “We seemed to control the game, but neither team was able to put the ball in the end zone.”

The Oxford trio of Shawn Hawkes, David Stott and Chad Troyce teamed up to rush for 216 yards, but every time they got close to the end zone, the Prouty defense shut them down.

There have been several other unique 2-0 games in local history, with the first one occurring on Nov. 30, 1899, when Milford edged Blackstone.

The annual Fitchburg-Leominster Thanksgiving game in 1908 was decided by a lone safety, when Leominster fullback Lou Little picked up a fumbled punt in his own end zone. He was caught behind the line by a gang of Fitchburg players.

Many years later, Little crafted a coaching legacy at Columbia University.

Another scoring rarity occurred in consecutive weeks in the fall of 1910. Fitchburg High School won a 2-0 game over St. John's Prep on Oct. 29. Then on Nov. 5, Fitchburg beat Nashua 3-0. Clarence Amiott, who would later go on to become a Fitchburg coaching legend, booted a drop kick from the 15-yard line for that margin of victory.

Then there was the 1931 game in which Hudson beat Clinton 2-0, turning into a huge moral victory for the Gaels. It was a season when Clinton failed to score a single point in eight games, but this would be its closest game.

It is interesting to see how some scoring plays led to safeties according to some of these descriptions from several Central Mass. newspaper sports pages:

•Oct. 19, 1907: Westboro 2, Sacred Heart 0 — In the first half, Devin made a forward pass that went behind the Worcester goal. Keany touched the ball and Gustafson caught it. Keany then tackled Gustafson in the end zone for a safety.

•Nov. 2, 1907: Northbridge 2, Franklin 0 — In a game played in a driving rain, making the Northbridge field a mud bowl, a safety determined the outcome.

•Sept. 28, 1910: Leominster 2, Worcester 0 — Murphy misjudged a long punt by Griffin and was nailed by Corkum as he was trying to run it back over the line.

•Nov. 24, 1928: Keene 2, Gardner 0 — A Gardner punt try into the end zone resulted in a bad snap over the kicker's head, with Keene tackling the punter behind the goal line.

•Oct. 31, 1931: Hudson 2, Clinton 0 — D'Intino's kick was blocked and went beyond the goal line. Several Hudson players rushed to grab it, but Griswold, the Clinton fullback, fell on the ball for the safety.

•Sept. 23, 1933: Commerce JVs 2, Holden 0: A Holden player tried to run with the kickoff that went over the goal line, and the entire Commerce team forward wall lined up in front of him, and he was tackled in the end zone.

•Oct. 8, 1937: Templeton 2, Murdock 0 — A blocked kick was picked up in the end zone by a Murdock offensive player, only to be swarmed under by the entire Templeton line.

•Oct. 21, 1939: St. Mary's (Milford) 2, St. Bernard's 0 — In the closing minutes, a St. Bernard's punt was blocked at the 4-yard line, and Bernardian player Altobell fell on the ball behind the goal line to give St. Mary's the two-point win.

•Oct. 21, 1944: Gardner 2, Athol 0 — Joe Gebo blocked a punt in the end zone for a 2-0 win over Athol.

•Oct. 28, 1944: Clinton 2, St. Bernard's 0 — Clinton center “Bee” Connolly blocked Lou Regan's third-down punt late in the fourth quarter, sending the ball scurrying out of the end zone for the safety.

•Oct. 18, 1952: Gardner 2, Fitchburg 0 — On the first play from scrimmage, after Dexter Fisher's kickoff was downed at the Fitchburg 5-yard line, Fitchburg center Dave Caputi sent the ball over the head of fullback Walt Jennison out of the end zone without a hand touching it for the safety.